At the World Cup, Giovanni Reyna gets remarkably little time. Now it’s clear why: The BVB professional is said to have been noticed by listlessness. His whereabouts in Qatar were probably in the balance. US coach Gregg Berhalter reveals this without naming Reyna.
Giovanni Reyna from Bundesliga soccer club Borussia Dortmund was apparently on the verge of being thrown out of the US national team during the World Cup in Qatar. Coach Gregg Berhalter only admitted in a speech in New York that he wanted to send a player home. “It doesn’t matter who it was,” he said. However, several US media reported, citing anonymous sources, that it was Reyna.
As Berhalter reported in a speech to a society for the promotion of executives, there was “a player” in the US team at the World Cup “who clearly did not meet our expectations on and off the field”. He and his staff “sat together for hours and discussed what to do with this player. We were ready to book him a plane ticket home, it was that bad,” he said.
Reyna, who has struggled with injuries over the past 14 months, appeared to have put in little effort in training and in a pre-World Cup friendly against a Qatari club. The 20-year-old only prevented his expulsion because he admitted his misconduct in front of the entire team and apologized for it. Berhalter described it as “fantastic” that the team then asked for changes from Reyna.
During the tournament, the US media criticized Reyna’s lack of playing time. He was not in the starting lineup in any game and initially only played for seven minutes against England (0-0). In the defeat in the round of 16 against the Netherlands (1:3), Reyna played the entire second half. At BVB, the World Cup drivers who have already been eliminated did not get any special leave. That’s why Reyna started training there again.